The Pittsburgh Steelers made a flurry of moves this season to try to spark a real change that can hopefully lead the team to its first playoff victory since 2016. But in doing so, the Steelers have made what many would consider to be a fatal mistake in today’s NFL by becoming one of the oldest teams in the league.
There have been plenty of criticisms about the Steelers’ team-building strategies, most notably about the defensive spending. The Steelers have the most expensive defense in the league, but they also have the fourth-cheapest offense, which contradicts the spending habits of the league’s top title contenders.
But the lopsided spending habits and the age of the roster aren’t concerns for those with the most optimistic view of the Steelers' outlook on the 2025 season. After all, the efforts to bring in the likes of Aaron Rodgers, DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey and others speak to more favorable changes on the roster than those pessimistic shouting heads laced in the social media feeds.
The Pittsburgh Steelers built one of the NFL’s oldest rosters… on purpose
The Steelers are one of a select few teams around the NFL who have religiously built through the draft, for better or worse. Unfortunately, the Steelers were on the worse side of that scale over the past decade. Former general manager Kevin Colbert strung together some rather unremarkable draft classes before retiring after one final blunder class in 2022.
Now, the Steelers still build through the draft under Omar Khan. It’s strikingly obvious the effort his staff has gone to building up the trenches in that regard. Of course, his aggressiveness on the trade block and free agency is what separates his tenure from Colbert’s. But it’s because of Colbert that Khan has had to use such tactics.
Heading into this offseason, the Steelers had a quality that went unreported. They had a shockingly low number of players with any postseason success. That's what happens when teams string together so many poor classes. The culture shifts, and before you know it, everyone who had been in or played in a Super Bowl on the roster was far removed from that success or had little to do with it.
Steelers embracing age and leadership in push for playoff success
Case in point, Steelers players on the 2024 roster who had played in or won a Super Bowl included:
- QB Russell Wilson
- RB Cordarrele Patterson
- WR Scotty Miller
- WR Van Jefferson
- WR Ben Skowronek
- G Isaac Seumalo
- LB Elandon Roberts
That’s a tough list, in large part because Wilson was the only one who had viable experience there, and it was clearly long behind him.
However, in 2025, things look a bit different. Here’s the updated list of players with Super Bowl experience on the Steelers' roster:
- QB Aaron Rodgers
- RB Kenneth Gainwell
- WR Robert Woods
- WR Scotty Miller
- WR Ben Skowronek
- G Isaac Seumalo
- CB Jalen Ramsey
- CB Darius Slay
- S Juan Thornhill
Some of the same names remain, but the value of the new names is drastically different, save for the quarterback. Rodgers is even more removed from his Super Bowl victory than Wilson was, to be fair.
However, Ramsey, Slay, Thornhill, and even Gainwell, to a degree, played significant roles in helping their teams win championships recently. Sure, Ramsey and Slay are into their 30s at a young man’s position in the defensive backfield, and Thornhill hasn’t been quite the same player as his early years in Kansas City. But the value of their experience is completely different, and much more helpful to a defense that could boast about its statistical successes and very little else.
On top of having extra, and more valuable, championship-level experience, the Steelers picked up Hall of Fame pedigrees, too. Last year, the Hall of Fame possibilities ended after Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt. This year, Rodgers, Ramsey, and Slay come in with that unrivaled pedigree to provide more leadership at the top of the roster.
Steelers' age isn’t a flaw—it’s part of the plan
To get where you want to be as a franchise, you need some guidance. It’s not lost that the Steelers are old, only the Washington Commanders are older - but they did just play in the NFC Championship, for what it’s worth.
The average age of every #NFL team's projected 53-man roster.
— Tyler Webb (@tylermwebb) August 1, 2025
(📊 Data via @bookies) pic.twitter.com/6REEplrZvn
Before, the Steelers were a mixture of lost draft picks; some showed promise, others not so much. But they lacked the guidance of a leadership conglomerate that had been there and done that. To a degree, Heyward and Watt missed out on it, too, considering how little playoff success they’ve had themselves.
READ MORE: Aaron Rodgers defends Mike Tomlin in strong message to Steelers critics
A lot of media folks paint Pittsburgh with a broad brush, saying if this was the roster two years ago, there would be something to it, but otherwise, they’ll stumble to a wild card seed and bust out of the first round like always. That could very well be the case, but the Steelers moves weren’t hastily made.
There’s a pattern to the effort here. The uptick in quality experience from proven veterans who can still play at a high level and help guide the young players to success is a quality that may have gotten overlooked in the hoopla of the big-name moves that seem so out of place for the franchise.